Artificial denture



y 23, 1929. v c. c. LIMBARTH 2 ARTIFICIAL D ENTURE Filed July 30. 1925 I I l [74] Cm/rzzs [MM/Mill avwawcoz $51, au m Wm Patented Jaly'ZS, 1929.

warren igzaasi CHARLES C. LIIJIBARTH, OF BROOKLYN, NEW] YORK.

ARTIFICEAL DENTURE.

Application filed July 30, 1925. SeriaLNo. 47,136.

This invention relates to artificial dentures and more partlcularly to a new and novel tooth structure and means for its permanent attachment to a dental plate, ormouth plate.

A principal feature of my present invention is to form artificial teeth each with a reduced rear shank portion, provided with curved projecting anchor pins, at least one of which being of a length to span the distance between the teeth when positioned on a mouth plate to reinforce said plate at those points.

l' v ith the above construction I am able to achieve desirable results with respect to strength, anchorage, appearance, translucency, natural feeling, easy speech and thorough mastication, and shape.

The practice, now common to the art, is to employ artificial teeth formed with flat rear faces from which a pair of short anchor pins project, and which are adapted to enter and engage the material of the mouth plate to secure the teeth in place, but it is necessary in this construction to back up the teeth with abulky mass of plate material to withstand the working strains, said material being 6X- tended down back of the teeth for a considerable distance, which results in darkening or deadening the appearance thereof and also interfering to a degree with the natural tongue action, whereas in my present improvements, I but slightly imbed the teeth in the mouth plate material, resulting in enhanced translucency and natural appearance, and with no bulky plate material back of the teeth.

My novel artificial teeth are formed in such a manner-that they will resemble natural teeth both, on the front, or anterior, or labial side, and on the rear, or posterior, or palatal side. Said teeth are provided with curved projecting anchor pins extending from a point near the base at least one of which being of a length sufficient to substantially span the distance between the adjoining teeth when in position in the dental plate, thus reinforcing'the said plate. These pins may also be grooved, flattened, roughened or be in any other additional manner adapted for better attachment to the tooth, and plate materials. 011 the palatal side the teeth are reduced or contracted laterally on both sides to allow for a greater amount of plate material between the teeth and increased strength in the dental plate.

This shape of my artificial teeth also provides for dental plates that can be constructed thinner and yet be stronger. My plates are further reinforced at the points of the greatest stress by the curved anchor pins mentioned above and to be more fully described hereinafter. p

I clearly illustrate my invention in the accompanying drawings in which similar reference characters are employed to indicate like parts throughout the several views, and in which v Fig. 1 is a fragmentary plan view of my improved denture structure.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged cross sectional elevation thereof, the section being taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1, and indicating by dotted lines the cross sectional contour of the denture 110W in (30111111011 US8- Fig. 3 is an enlarged plan view of my improved artificial tooth.

Fig, i is a sectional elevation of my improved denture structure shaped for the lower jaw. I

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 3, but showing a modified form of anchoring means, while i I v Figs. 6 and 7 illustrate present forms of artificial teeth. i

Referring to the drawings, 10, indicates a portion of the upper jaw, to which the mouth plate 11, is titted.

In building up my improved denture structure, the artificial teeth 11, are positioned by slightly embedding their bases 13, into the plate 11 while its material is in a plastic condition and before hardening or vulcanizing. I j

The teeth 12, are formed with inwardly or backwardly directed reduced shanks 15, whereby a curve 15 is formed on the'proximate part of the tooth and greater amount platematerial is provided for between the teeth, as shown atl5. From the shank project curved or hooked anchor pins 16 and 17 which are forced into the plastic plate material when setting the teeth in position;

pin 17, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 3 ofthe drawings, is much longer than pin 16, and is extended across through the plate material to overlap and back up the shorter anchor pin of the'next neighbor tooth, thus providing an effective reinforcing for the plate material in the gap between the teeth as will be fully appreciated by those skilled in the art.

Each of these teeth comprises a body portion with a facing resembling the facing of w a natural tooth, and an inwardly or palatally projecting portion which is of lesser thickness between its mesial and distal surfaces than the facing, being cut away so that a cavity isprovided for the reception of plate material between this tooth and the adjacent tooth. The facing thus has substantially a palatal or lingual wall at its sides. In addi: tion, as shown in Figs. 2 and 4, the gingival end of the tooth-is provided with a groove extending mesio-distally across the tooth body, the groove being curved upwardly at the sides of the tooth to form a saddle whose surfaces merge with the rear wall of the facing and with the side walls ofthe palatally extending portion, in the illustrated form.

In Fig. 3 of the drawings, pins 16 and 17, are shown as separate element, but in Fig. 5, I have shown the pins 16 and 17 as integral with a head portion 18, fixed into the tooth by any suitable manner, like baking, cementing, vulcanizing, soldering, and this form may be desirable in most instances.

The pin ends which are fixed into the tooth body may be grooved, shouldered, flattened or otherwise deformed to provide effective interlocking relation with the tooth material if desired or found necessary, and even their portions in the plate material may be formed in a similar manner.

The anchor pins 16 and 17, may be of any suitable rigid material and the curvature or shape of the pins may be changed or modified under various conditions of use without departing from the spirit of my invention.

As shown on the drawings, the plate is formed of a thin sheet and is shaped at the gingival surface to fit the mouth and at the other surface is provided with surfaces to receive the artificial teeth to be placed in position. A ridge or rib of plate material enters and fills the mesio-distal groove 'of the tooth and thusprovides a reinforcement extending mesio-distally of the plate, substantially parallel to the line of the absorbed gum, whereby to reinforce the plate in such direction. Plate material also is provided to fill the cavities existing at the sides of the artificial teeth by reason of the narrowness of the rearwardly extending portions 15, so that in effect the mesio-distal ridge extends occlusally and palatally between adjacent teeth to provide an increased amount of plate structure at the tooth gap, thus reinforcing the plate at this point. It will be noted that very little plate material is visible from the labial side, while the increased amount of plate material at the lingual side of the tooth gap is shaped to resemble the natural gum, so that the artificial tooth and plate as a whole closely resemble in feeling to the tongue, the shape of the replaced natural tooth and gum since the provision of reinforcing material between the teeth supports the plate adequately at the line of the tooth gap, in conjunction with the anchor and re inforcing pins, so that a larger space is afforded for the tongue than with the usual plate as described above.

In Figs. 6 and 7 I illustrate, for the sake of comparison, cross sections of two forms now used in the artificial teeth. The numerals 19 indicate the teeth while the dotted line 20-20 shows the directions of the greatest stress acting between the teeth on the plate material where in such present form said material is mostly weakened, as will be seen by inspecting the drawings. The same line 2020 of the greatest stress has been indicated in Fig. 1 and it will. be seen that my novel structure provides a greater amount of material for the plate there and also the special reinforcement obtained by my curved pins. The numerals 21-21 in Fig. 6 indicate the anchoring means now mostly in use, while 22 denotes the plate material.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. An artificial tooth for plate Work comprising a body having a facing and an integral palatally projecting portion, the lingual surface of said facing and portion being shaped to resemble the natural tooth, said portion being cut away at the side and adjacent said facing so that it is of less thickness between mesial and distal surfaces than the width of said facing to provide a cavity to receive material to reinforce the plate at the tooth gap, said body having a saddle shaped gingival surface, the notch of such saddle extending mesio-distally and being curved occlusally so that it merges at the sides of the body with the rearwalls of the facing and the side walls of the projecting portion.

2. An artificial denture including a mouth plate having a relatively thin base shaped at one surface to fit the gum tissue, and a pluralsurface of lesser width between mesial and distal surfaces than the width of the respective facing so as to provide a cavity at the gap between it and the adj acent tooth of substantial mesial-distal thickness at the lingual side; said plate base having integral projections extending occlusally therefrom and beyond the occlusal surface of the plate itself to resemble the natural gums and teeth in shape and filling said cavities whereby to strengthen the denture against breakage at the tooth gaps; said tooth being of translucent material and having its labial and lingual surfaces free of said plate and projections for substantially their entire depth to afford a natural appeartooth body with its gingival end having a groove extending mesio-distally and pro vided with a facing and with an integral palatally extending portion cut away laterally to afford a cavity to receive plate material, and a thin plate having a mesio-distally extending rib thereon to fill said groove and having an integral occlusally extending portion filling said cavity, said portions having their lingual surfaces shaped to resemble the natural tooth and gum, said rib and plate portion reinforcing said plate at the tooth gap.

4. An artificial plate denture including a tooth body with its gingival end having a groove extending mesio-distally and provided with a facing and with an integral palatally extending portion, said portion being shaped to resemble the natural tooth on its lingual surface, a thin plate having a mesio-distally extending rib therein to fill said groove, and an anchor pin rigidly mounted in said body and extending laterally beyond the tooth and embedded in and reinforcing the said plate at the tooth gap.

5. An artificial tooth for plate work comprising a body having a facing and an integral palatally projecting portion of less thiclc ness between mesial and distal surfaces than the width'of said facing, said facing and por tion having their labial and lingual surfaces shaped to resemble the natural tooth, said body having a saddle-shaped gingival surface, the notch of such saddle merging at the sides of the body with the rear wall of the facing and the side walls of the projecting portion, and a pin embedded in said body and eX- tending away from its surface and laterally therefrom whereby it is adapted to reinforce the plate between adjacent teeth thereon.

6. An artificial denture including a plate having a relatively thin base shaped at one surface to fit the mouth, and an artificial tooth body presenting a facing and having a mesiodistally directed groove in the gingival surface thereof, said body having an integral palatally projecting portion with its lingual surface resembling the natural tooth and be ing of lesser width between mesialand'distal surfaces than the width of the respective facing so as to provide a cavity at the gap between it and the adjacent tooth ofsubstantial inesio-distal thickness at the lingual side, said mouth plate having a mesio-distalrib thereon to fill said groove 'whereby to stren then the plate, said plate also having an occlusal projection to fill said cavity, the lingual surfaces of said projections being shaped to resemble the natural gum and tooth, the walls of said groove curving occlusally and merging with the rear wall of said facing and with the side walls of the body, said tooth body having a pair of pins of different lengths projecting therefrom and curved palatally and laterally, and embedded in said mouth plate wherebyto reinforce the same, said longer pin projecting across the gap and overlapping the shorter pin of the adjacent tooth whereby to strengthen the plate at the tooth gap.

Signed at Brooklyn, in the county of Kings, and State of New York, ApriL'A. D. 1925.

DR. CHARLES C. LIMBARTH. 

